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Falling down. Falling, falling down. Down into the depths of what was called Reality.
Tumbling down. Tumbling and speechless as a stick goes down. The world above shrinking as It falls.
It's no use. Was there? It's no use to call for help when there was none. Had the void of the unknown carry it all out. Today, this moment, this day in this year will be the last it knows as time seems to slow and turn inside out.
Falling through a tunnel, a cone, or a spike, It knows that it's somewhere it should not be. Wondering how it got here, sucked into the black hole, It ponders if it could've been different had it simply flew away. But something else told It that falling down here wasn't a mistake. Maybe it's the other stick down at the bottom, standing next to a cylinder, that give it the clue. Oddly enough, they were a spitting image of it, who fell ever so peacefully down, only that they lacked the hat.
It's curious, so It swam down to the ground that stretched to oblivion. Is that where It is? Oblivion?
Who is It again?
It landed on the water-like desert floor of Oblivion, strings and outlines of circles floating up as if they were waterdrops in space. Two sets of circles drew from the ground and headed towards the Other stick, almost like the circles were to alert them as later, Other turned around and faced It with a look of tension.
But It's not dangerous; it knows it isn't. But maybe Other already knew that. Maybe they're only tense from waiting for the circles to let them know It is here. But then why did they have to know that It is indeed here?
Other seemed to be in a hurry, striding over with broad shoulders. Other inspected It. Deep and anticipating eyes looking over It's form. It felt like It has seen Other before. Almost as if in a dream or when it stared up in the spacious sky back on the white moon. Staring at where the glowing star was.
Pulling out the apple that attracted It here, Other placed the fruit onto its hands. Then, out of nowhere, the apple folded in on itself. Connected to the apple was a line and the line had been connected to a word, 'Calabi-Yau Manifold'. It doesn't know where these names of stuff are coming from. From what it could tell, these words and titles had started showing up ever since It departed from the e with an i and pi.
Other spun round and began walking back to the cylinder, the shape stretching endlessly up to the sky like a beacon. It stood still for a second. What was a beacon again? It grew frustrated. How come it remembers some things but not others?
It didn't know, but it knows it should probably follow Other, maybe they know what's going on. Dots likes fireflies floated up from the ground as small waves rippled while It and Other ran and walked to the cylinder. Other sat down in front of the infinitely stretching shape, staring at the 'Wormhole' in the center that oddly resembled an eye. A pulsing eye, It would like to point out. A very alive Eye.
Other invited It to sit on Oblivion's floor with a friendly pat on the ground. But looking where they patted, It saw another orange stick below. Another one. Another.
Another was It when it was sliding on the moon's ice moments ago. This is the past. It glanced at Other. Were they the future?
It felt it's head spin at the thought, quickly accepting Other's request and sat down next to them. As a result, a string floated from the ground. Other took it and straightened the string out with a sharp snap. The little string later becoming the strong rope that Another would use to propel themselves forward on the frictionless ice. Like how It used the rope to push itself forward back then.
Other hit the watery ground with their hand, a string and a circle floated up beside them. They handed the string first to It. Pulling at the ends, the string vibrating like a synth wave, nearby it read 'Dimensional Open String'. It could only guess that the enclosed circle Other gave next was a 'Closed String'. It was right.
Recalling how Other had dropped the previous string, It released the string it held now and the enclosed string over the Eye. Of course, the string formed into another but longer rope as the circle solidified into a heavy ball, the six hundred newton one. The very same ball It saw fall from the sky before it crashed into the ball's side. And as for the lengthy string, becoming the very same rope It saw fall on the other side of the slope. Interesting.
Next to It, Other was playing around with an enclosed string, bending at the edges one second as the next it became a toy rocket ship. But It doesn't remember the rocket being this small after it flung itself from the moon's surface. The ship then had been as long as its body, but here it could fit in Other's hands.
Hovering the rocket over the Eye, a formula with letters and symbols formed under the ship as the name for such formula appeared on the side. Dropping it, the rocket floated in space where Another was. On Reality's side. To them down there, the rocket probably looked exactly like how it appeared, a large chunk of composed metal. But to It and Other, up here, the rocket was like a toy submarine floating in the mass sea.
It bent down to see the rocket drifting in space, wondering when the cowboy hat would come. Will It drop the hat it has through the Eye and give it to Another? That would explain why Other doesn't have their hat. Maybe they dropped theirs to give it to It.
But it doesn't seem to be the right time for that, as gripping hands onto the cylinder's base, Other began spinning the Eye around like a wheel. Wisps of hasty lines spun around the beacon as if Other were turning the Eye with a swift speed. Which, no, they weren't. An inch of movement seemed to equal to the Eye spinning at fifty kilometers per hour. Below, the scene played out backwards, pressing rewind on the world and time.
Another moved out of the scene as the six hundred newton ball came back out of the Eye, briefly splitting up into 'Escaping Particles' and 'Antiparticles' before floating away. The tree at the slope's edge shrunk down, aging from an adult tree to a seedling to becoming the apple itself, flying back up to Oblivion and into yet another orange stick's hands. But unlike It, Other, and Another, they were more transparent and faded. Like a ghost.
Ghost stashed the apple away after holding up the fruit for It to see. With a quick wave, Ghost moved behind the spinning cylinder, disappearing.
Then from behind, another stick came back with a flashlight in hand, the same flashlight It found after the rocket ship. But the stick holding the flashlight couldn't have been the same Ghost. The time frame for Ghost to go from behind the cylinder and then behind It was simply too short. Plus, It didn't see Ghost come out from behind the cylinder. Unless they can teleport or go invisible. So this must be the second Ghost that came after the first, the successor. Ghost the Second released the flashlight into the Eye and vanished like the first.
Ghost the Third walked in between It and Other, holding a steel pole and a magnet. They placed the objects into the cylinder, leaving the magnet alone but tipping the pole for it to begin spinning.
The Fourth entered with a pack of eight rings the size of donuts. Not quite the same size compared to when It was soaring through colossal versions of it.
Fifth held a diagram with planets or moons and a red star in the middle. The type of diagram you would see in a science classroom. Slowly, they handed it over to the Eye, then it fell to the plane below. Soon to become an actual star system.
Other released the cylinder, time retreating back to the present. Another had the cowboy hat on (It never did drop its hat, did the hat just exist in space?), they were driving near the black hole. Hit by realization, It picked up the apple and dragged it over the Eye, remembering when it was hit with an apple at this moment.
The apple popped into Reality, slapped Another straight in the face, and floated straight back to Oblivion. It snickered. Now It wonders who dropped the apple on It during his time. Probably Other. And yet, they're laughing for the second time an apple their reflection's face. But It shouldn't be saying much. It's laughing too.
Getting back to business though, Other snatched the apple out of It's hands and stood over the Eye. Letting the apple fall down, pass the Eye and fall into Reality's side, Other pointed up to the sky; Another is falling down. Just like how It fell.
Other took It's cowboy hat and placed it on their head. They side stepped on the Eye to change some sort of setting, the words and images all too small to see for It. With one step however, Other settled on the second option.
Other turned back to It. It stared at Other. A silent moment passed, then Other tipped the hat to It, wishing luck.
He jumped. And just like that, Other disappeared into the unknown, likely becoming Unknown itself. High waves rippled off the Eye as a small Closed String floated next to It. Probably the string used to create the tiny ball that bounced off It's head at the beginning.
So if It were to summarize, Other had been It and It has been Another as Another is going to be both? Who is Other going to become? Unknown? What had been Another? It does not want to begin thinking of the Ghosts too. Or Oblivion or Reality. The Eye stared at It.
Is It even It anymore?
It Other looked behind them, up to Another It, then looked back at the Eye, tensely inhaling and exhaling Oblivion's particles. Looks like it's their turn now.
As Other Unknown left Oblivion's plane, It Other waited for Another It to land. Waiting for the moment when the two circles, the two strings that would notify them once It breaks out of their panic from leaving Reality. And to make the loop whole, Another Another would take their place.
That's a mouthful.
Was this was the secret of the universe? It certainly felt like it. Other thought that discovering that would solve everything. And although it did clear up some stuff, they still have a question,
Who is It?